I’ve had a similar experience in Gourmet Burger Kitchen on South William St. There’s too many bad customer service businesses like this around, and Irish people are too reticent to hold them to account.

Whats not working.. the link or the gatherings? The link loaded for me eventually. But JF’s is over priced and the music in the back room will blow your ears off. Its a much better experience if you can get a table in the front of the main part of the pub.

A friend of mine used to work for that place in Temple Bar selling boxty to tourists. she said all the food was pre-prepared in an industrial estate in Tallaght the day before, then shipped to the restaurant that morning and kept in a freezer onsite. Not a sniff of fresh food. lovely!

Anyway, tripadvisor that shit, is my recommendation. This doesn’t have to be the way tourist traps are run (I’ve had quite an enjoyable, bullshit-free time in tourist traps here and in other countries, after all.)

Ah here, you said it yourself, you should have know better. Not all ‘twee’ places like the dreaded Johnny Foxs are as dreadful though. Durty Nellys in Bunratty does great and reasonable pub food for example.

Went in there about seven years ago after a walk in the mountains. Three of us ordered pints, and one of us got a cup of coffee. We’re half-way through our pints when I whip out a Moro bar that I’d brought with me for the walk.

*Expensive? Actually Dublin’s hotel rates are very competitive these days with the rest of Europe. Restaurants have also reacted to the slump with great value early bird menus and free wine offers and many of the tourist attractions in Dublin (Museums, galleries, parks, public monuments etc) are free to enter. The cost of coming to Dublin is well down on 2007 levels.

*Unfriendly? TripAdvisor voted Dublin the friendliest city in Europe in 2009 and Lonely Planet voted Ireland the world’s friendliest country the year after. Can’t get more friendly than that!

*Riddled with junkies? Actually, we do have a bit of a problem with that, not helped by having drug-users from the country being sent up to Dublin treatment centres.

*Leggings and Ugg boots – These are available in the rest of the country too and are worn eagerly there. Though if you compare the style on Grafton and Henry St. compared to Main St. Tullamore or Moate I think you’ll find that the former in general have the edge.

Sounds like an awful place.
The criticism of the noise level reminds me of other places in this country, and people who seem to think that having your ear drums bleed at a social gathering is integral to a great night out. The option to talk is important in these kinds of environments too.
Bah with the young people. And the old people. Who like the loudness. Outside of a concert. Although is a band in a pub similar to a concert? even if it is diddley eye music?

Bah the people who like the loud diddley eye music with the emptiness and the smiles on their faces even though they can’t talk to anyone. Sweaty bastards.

Ive been there a few times and had mixed adventures. Some times its been good fun, sometimes a bit boring. Ive only ever gone when bringing touristy pals for some oirishy type stuff.

The food and pints are good which is what I went for, the music was good too , i didnt think it was too loud.
Bringing 10 kids to the place is the worst idea ive ever heard though.
Id imagine the band turned up to avoid listening to screaming kids :-)
I think that room they were in is for functions/large groups and dancing and stuff which might explain the loud music but thats just my guess. Ive only ever been in the main bar area.
Mick

It was a Sunday afternoon, the place was full of families with kids. They have a children’s menu so they are clearly courting business from families, and were seating families in the ‘Hooley Room’. Our kids were well behaved – I have very strong feelings about children running around and screaming in restaurants and never let my young one do it; nor do my friends with their kids.

Fair play. It’s good to see people actually complaining about stuff like this. Me and the missus are vegetarians and she is allergic to a few bits and pieces, dairy and yeast being two that give her nearly instant reactions. We’ve had run ins with restaurants (chefs now, not staff) who don’t know what the ingredients are or who are incapable of whipping up a dish, even with prior notice. In fact we’ve made serious complaints about a few places that mark stuff as vegetarian only to cook it in fish sauce or chicken stock (which isnt nice when you end up barfing an hour later).

When we have bad service, we complain and put up bad reviews, but the opposite is also true, when people treat us like normal people and cater to us without a problem we put up good reviews, in fact we’ve come across a lot of good restaurants out there who actually welcome different dietary requirements as it’s a break from the norm, not a big cauldron of crap that feeds 50.

Moral of the story is, good and friendly customer service should be welcomed, and commented on as much as bad service. Look at Nandos, there is always a queue and nearly always a wait, but every time it’s friendly and pleasant. Hence why there is a queue.